Blog 4 sustainability of RRU campus

Blog 4 sustainability of RRU campus

Whenever I hear of any institution, whether it be governmental or education, mention reducing carbon emissions, going grid neutral, buying carbon offsets, I always chuckle to myself.

One my favourite T.V shows is “King of The Hill”. The character of Dale Gribble is a conspiracy theorist. In one particular episode, a local propane company was planning to help the environment by purchasing carbon offsets. Dale Gribble mentioned that carbon offsets “are all the rage in Hollywood”. He goes on to say “They’re like a get-out-of-fail-free card for people concerned about the environment, but not concerned enough to actually do anything.” That basically sums up my feelings on the matter.

Our first guest speaker regarding the sustainability of the RRU campus was Dr. Steve Grundy. He is on the campus sustainability committee. I liked him. He was realistic about the sustainability of the campus and the goals that were set forth in the sustainability plan.

The major components of the sustainability plan are as follows
• Greenhouse gas management will result in a 50-per-cent net reduction of emissions from 2007 levels by 2020.

• Going grid-positive will see Royal Roads adopt alternate energy sources not only sustainable but also able to provide surplus electricity and heat that will be made available to local purchasers.

• Campus transportation options include reducing the number of commuters driving alone to the university; re-routing traffic circulation; consolidating parking lots; and implementing a shuttle service.

• Building and heritage conservation projects include re-development of existing buildings and construction of new facilities while maintaining the unique attributes of the campus.

• University stewardship plans include the creation of a Green Purchasing and Product Stewardship Policy and the expansion of Campus Green, university-wide stewardship initiatives led by employee and student advocates who will encourage manageable grassroots projects that minimize waste streams and conserve natural resources.

Dr. Grundy had said some goals had been met in reducing emissions, but the goal of going grid positive by 2010 will not happen. I’ll paraphrase here, but he basically said that the goals have no real meaning, and its just something set forward for good public relations. I applaud his honesty in the whole matter. I find that too often people are unrealistic when it comes to environmental issues. There are lots of goals, but no action on how to attain them.

The next guest was Darren Gardham. He is the supervisor for the custodial and housekeeping services. He had a profound impact on the sustainability of Royal Roads. He told our class that when he first started at the school, the effects of the chemicals were quite harmful. He had to take time off because they were so severe. He took it upon himself to find a better way of cleaning, without the use of strong chemicals.

One of the solutions he came up with is the use of a microfiber cloth to clean surfaces. The product was demonstrated to him by the manufacturing company of the cloths, and after seeing the results under a black light of a washroom that was cleaned, he was convinced. The microfiber cloths cleaned just as well as the chemicals, of course without the harmful odors and other by products associated with strong chemicals.

Another item Darren initiated was the composting of paper towels on campus. I forget the numbers he gave us, but there was a substantial savings from paper towels being diverted from landfills which now go for composting.

After Darren we had the manager from the Habitat café, and her name escapes me at the moment. She said that the café uses corn starch based cutlery, and puts all food waste from plates into an organic garbage bin for composting. Im glad to see the school is taking composting seriously. In my house, a few km away from the school, there is no composting available. A lot of food gets thrown out when it should be composted.

The last two guests of the day were Nancy Wilkin and Keri Laughlin who are part of Royal Roads’ sustainability plan. They didn’t tell us anything we hadn’t already heard, but I found it quite amusing to hear the positive spin a politician (Nancy Wilkin is former deputy Minister of the Environment for B.C) puts on the schools sustainability plan. This was in stark contrast to the grim picture that the first guest. Steve Grundy had presented us with.

I applaud Nancy and Keri for being part of the sustainability plan, but I don’t think the school can be sustainable. Its my personal opinion that the school doesn’t have its priorities in order. The main priority seems to be that they must pat themselves on the back at every moment possible while praising that bloody castle. The gardens and peacocks come 2nd and 3rd, while students and sustainability are way down at the bottom.

I believe the school could become more sustainable, if the effort was put into it, and the bottom line was ignored.